PRECIOUS-Gold marks over 1-week high; firm dollar curbs gains

Reuters Staff

3 Min Read

Oct 10 (Reuters) - Gold prices inched up to their highest in
more than a week on Tuesday, but the gains were capped as the
dollar held firm bolstered by expectations of another Federal
Reserve interest rate hike this year.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold inched up 0.2 percent to $1,286.42 an
ounce at 0127 GMT, hitting its highest since Sept. 29.
* U.S. gold futures for December delivery climbed
0.3 percent to $1,288.90 per ounce.
* The dollar steadied on Tuesday after edging away from a
10-week high overnight, taking support from underlying
expectations that improved prospects for the U.S. economy would
prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later this
year.
* Asian shares gained on Tuesday, shrugging off modest
losses on Wall Street.
* The European Central Bank should reduce its asset buys
from next year with the aim of ending them altogether, ECB
Executive Board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger said on Monday,
just weeks before policymakers decide whether to curb stimulus.
* Investor sentiment in the euro zone rose more than
expected in October, hitting a 10-year high in its first reading
since Germany held national elections two weeks ago, a survey
showed on Monday.
* The International Monetary Fund is likely to nudge up its
growth forecast for the global economy this week and this means
it is high time for policymakers to dial back their ultra-loose
monetary stimulus, German government officials said on Monday.
* German industrial output posted its biggest monthly rise
in more than six years in August, data showed on Monday.
* British consumer spending jumped in September, but not by
enough to halt a year-on-year decline that reflects rising
living costs, a survey by payments company Visa showed on
Monday.
* Activity in China's services sector grew at its slowest
pace in 21 months in September as new orders cooled, a private
survey showed, blurring the picture of how the economy is
performing heading into a key Communist Party Congress.
* China should continue to open up its economy, reform its
exchange rate system and ease capital account controls, Zhou
Xiaochuan, governor of the country's central bank, told Chinese
business magazine Caijing in an interview.
* The oil market is rebalancing fast and has almost entirely
erased the glut of refined products as OPEC sticks to its supply
pact, OPEC's secretary general said on Monday.
DATA/EVENT AHEAD (GMT)
0600 Germany Trade balance Aug
0645 France Industrial output Aug
0830 Britain Industrial output Aug
1000 U.S. NFIB business optimism Sep
(Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)